The week’s closing show came from the Istanbul-based luxury sportswear label Les Benjamins. Runway show music production is by DJ XXXL, None other than Dudley O’Shaughnessy, the British model and best bud of Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing, walked the show.

Les Benjamins show, the planets aligned: while stargazers everywhere glimpsed a historic solar eclipse, Istanbul’s brightest artists, musicians and designers flocked to see the streetwear crew’s celestial AW15 offering. Taking its previous graphic incarnations of world events andlooking instead to a galaxy far, far away, the brand’s Space Soldiers wore a uniform of cult leather, monochrome layers and protective outerwear, teamed with black Converse Chuck Taylors. Led by British invaders Phoebe Collings-James and Dudley O’Shaughnessy, and soundtracked by DJ XXXL’s Trap remixes of Star Wars and the Ottoman Imperial Anthem, this was supercharged sportswear that let all attendees know that the future is now – and it’s right here in Istanbul. As show spun into afterparty, the after-dark crowd hit the floor to sets from honorary recruits Venus X and Wiley, breaking the noise barrier of a spectacular venue steeped in the city’s past.

It all went down at Binbirdirek Cistern, an ancient subterranean reservoir in the heart of Old Istanbul. For founder Bunyamin Aydin and his creative entourage, the setting formed a deliberate juxtaposition. “We want to be somewhere old, and create the new,” says the designer, speaking the day after the party. “That’s something you can see in Istanbul itself – east and west, crashing into each other. It’s what we represent.” Just like the city, Les Benjamins’ clothing asks you to look twice: this season’s galaxy print is entirely made up of Ottoman architectural patterns. Elsewhere, the number 34 accompanies the label’s signature satirical graphics – for locals, that’s the area code for Galata, the city’s creative hub and where Les Benjamins calls home.

To walk around Galata and Karaköy, the districts at the epicentre of Istanbul’s new wave, is to experience the city’s contrasts at ground level. Even on a grey day, the streets are brighter than most: nestled in the shade of Galata Tower, neon and electrical shops shine a light on the secret streetwear upstarts in their midst. When it comes to the design scene in the city, Les Benjamins leads the pack. “We are global and local,” explains Aydin, who travelled and lived abroad for six years. “I think the problem here in Turkey is that people haven’t had that global vision.” Despite showing at Paris Fashion Week last month as well as Fashion Week Istanbul, the Les Benjamins revolution will start – and stay – at home. “I love that it feels raw,” says Aydin. “I want to inspire other young designers, so they can see that its possible to do it from Istanbul.”

“We want to be somewhere old, and create the new. That’s something you can see in Istanbul itself – east and west, crashing into each other. It’s what we represent.”